Burundi Réalités
Mutware Damien
Bujumbura
The stated support to Burundi by the USA government is generally interpreted as an acknowledgement for Burundi's recent 1700 troops' contribution of to the Africa Union peace keeping mission in Somalia. The participation by various African nations to the peace keeping mission in Somalia is part of the USA war on terror in Africa aiming to root out Islamic jihadists who are seen by the USA as part of Ossama's terrorist network.
It is worth noting that US has had negative memories from the horn of Africa since October 3, 1993 when gunmen downed the black haw helicopter and shot all the 18 soldiers who were operating under the UN mandate, " operation restore hope". There was also the August 7 1998 US embassy simultaneous bombing in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam which killed 257 people and wounded thousands. The bombings were attributed to Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network. Since then the USA has been escalating its military infrastructure which on January 31, 2007 culminated in President Bush's approval of a pentagon plan to create, AFRICOM a new military command for US operation in Africa.
South Africa has refused to send troops to Somalia claiming that its troops are already stretched too short and that there is no peace to keep in Somalia. The militia courts of Islamic jihad in Somalia have already warned Burundi that its troops are going to be attacked just as though they were Ethiopian troops.
Source: Burundi Réalités, Mar 02, 2007